Wenchang launch centre opens space exhibition for youth

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China's new Wenchang Space Launch centre has opened a space exhibition for students as part of a drive to popularise the country's space exploration exploits and inspire younger generations.

The exhibition opened at Wenchang on the southern island province of Hainan on Monday, with pupils able to wander around an array of models and actual items from Chinese space program history.

These include the reentry capsule from Shenzhou-10, the country's fifth human spaceflight mission, which included a docking with Tiangong-1 in 2013.

Other items included a Fei Tian (飞天) space suit, a model of the Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover that set down on the Moon in late 2013, and models of the Long March 2F, used for launching human spaceflight missions, and new Long March 5 and 7 rockets.

Above: A Fei Tian space suit.

Above: A model Yutu rover, which travelled 140m across the Moon's surface as part of the Chang'e-3 mission.

Next month Wenchang will see its third mission since opening last year, with the launch of Tianzhou-1 - China's first cargo spacecraft and crucial to its space station plans - on a Long March 7 rocket.

The launch site was specially built to allow China to launch large space station modules and ambitious lunar and interplanetary missions.

The first Long March 5 rocket being rolled out at Wenchang (China Daily).